The 10 Most (And Least) Accurate Sci-Fi Movies

Science Fiction wouldn't be much fun if movies never took any creative license. But some popcorn flicks are just too wrong to enjoy. Here are 10 movies we love for their plausibility, and 10 distorted blockbusters we're still trying to forgive. (And don't miss our feature on the scientists and tech-savvy filmmakers trying to make sci-fi more believable.)

THE 10 BEST: 2001: A Space Odyssey (1969)

THE 10 BEST: 2001: A Space Odyssey (1969)

Early in the film, a character takes a routine commercial flight to a space station aboard a shuttle sporting Pan Am’s logo. Swap SpaceX for Pan Am, and 2001 predicts the ambition of the private spaceflight industry. Even HAL 9000’s nuanced descent into lethal system error rings true. Expert opinion: "You can’t train AI [artificial intelligence] for every problem it might have to solve," says roboticist and author Daniel H. Wilson, referring to HAL’s response to learning that secrets are being kept from it. "Different levels of classified information are exactly the wrench that could turn a predictable learner into a murderer."

The Andromeda Strain (1971)

The Andromeda Strain (1971)

In this adaptation of Michael Crichton’s novel, the Pentagon uses a satellite to capture an extraterrestrial virus in order to study its potential as a biological weapon. Instead, the virus runs amok, mutating rapidly and killing almost everyone it encounters. The plot is not as far- fetched as it sounds. In the November 1962 issue of Popular Mechanics, microbiologist Joshua Lederberg warned that "the return of such samples to earth exposes us to a hazard of contamination by foreign organisms . . . [including] the introduction of a new disease which would imperil human life."